There's been a new Yahoo group set up for those who wish to help plan their local nurse-ins against Applebee's on Saturday, September 8th.

Now, normally I wouldn't get behind a national nurse-in for an incident that seems to center around the practice of a particular franchise owner...

...but...the word coming out of Applebee's corporate offices have NOT been anywhere close to reasonable. In fact, one mom received the following response in her voice mail after calling the Applebee's International Guest Relations Manager:

"I am calling with the corporate response you requested - and the corporateresponse to the breastfeeding in Lexington, Kentucky is that Applebee's and its franchisees love having families dine together at our restaurants. We believe that this franchisee made a reasonable and lawful request of this guest in order to promote a pleasant and comfortable experience for all of its guests."

This now seems to be the standard response being given to callers.

With that being the case, I think I can probably back this one, though I don't have the time to put toward organizing one myself.

What do you mean you have other things to do rather than keep abreast of EVERYTHING (no pun intended, really). Seriously, I appreciate the coverage you give and the transparency with which you do it. I suppose I should try to think for myself now :-)

I feel really bad about that, but I have to remind myself that while lactivism is an important battle, it's not MY job to lead (or assist) with every last battle.

Which is good, because believe me, during the busy lactivist times, there is NO room for that and a real job. Thankfully, most of the time consuming lactivist battles so far have come while my work load was light.

Not this time though, which is good in that it gives a whole new crowd a chance to do their thing.

The world will be better served by tons of people doing what I do than by one person trying to do it all themselves.

(I know that sounded like a retirement speech, but I'm not going anywhere, honest!)

Isn't it amazing the frustration that can be generated by one disgusted customer and one rude manager? I was holding out hope that Applebees nationwide would not stand with this franchise, but clearly they have gone the wrong road. The saddest part is that they are the ones who broke the law, and they are standing by it. It's truly no wonder lactivism is such a struggle. I just wish I were nursing at the moment so I could really participate.

This whole situation makes me wish I still had a nursling. In fact, if our area organizes one, I may go to show my support anyway... it's one thing for a business to do something stupid... something else entirely for corporate to support it!

More like, ESPECIALLY if a baby is attached to it. I see women with their tits hanging out all over the place. On TV, in magazines, at the mall, everywhere. No one asks these women to cover up with blankets or leave an airplane or any such.

EILAT- I totally agree. I would like to know why it's okay for applebees to put on their big screen TV's the HOOTERS girls pageant while I was with my kids trying to eat my dinner. The providing blankets thing is so gross to me. Whose handled the blankets? Who's to say they're clean and who's to say every baby is going to tolerate a blanket on their head?